The world's oceans have warmed 50 percent faster over the last 40 years than previously thought due to climate change,Australian and US climate researchers reported Wednesday．Higher ocean temperatures expand the volume of water,contributing to a rise in s

共用题干
Lakes,Too,Feel Global Warming

There's no doubt:In the last few decades,the average temperature on Earth has been higher than it has
been in hundreds of years.Around the world,people are starting to measure the effects of global warming一
and trying to figure out what to do about it.
Scientists recently used satellites to study the temperatures of lakes around the world,and they found
that lakes are heating up.Between 1985 and 2009,satellites recorded the nighttime temperatures of the sur-
faces of 167 lakes.During those 24 years,the lakes got warmer by an average of about 0.045 degree
Celsius per year.
In some places,lakes have been warming by as much as 0.10 degree Celsius per year. At that rate,a
lake may warm by a full degree Celsius in just 10 years.That difference may seem small一you might not
even notice it in your bath.But in a lake,slightly warmer temperatures could mean more algae（水藻）,and
algae can make the lake poisonous to fish.
The study shows that in some regions,lakes are warming faster than the air around them.This is impor-
tant because scientists often use measurements of air temperature to study how Earth is warming. By using
lake temperatures as well,scientists can get a better picture of global warming. The scientists say data on
lakes give scientists a new way to measure the impact of climate change around the world.
That's going to be useful,since no country is too big or too small to ignore climate change.Scientists
aren't the only ones concerned.Everyone who lives on Earth is going to be affected by the rapid warming of
the planet. Many world leaders believe we might be able to do something about it,especially by reducing the
amount of greenhouse（温室）gases we put into the air.
That's why the United Nations started the Framework Convention on Climate Change,or UNFCCC.
Every year the convention meets,and representatives from countries around the world gather to talk about
climate change and discuss global solutions to the challenges of a warming world.

The temperatures of lakes around the world have increased greatly between 1985 and 2009.
A:Right
B:Wrong
C:Not mentioned

共用题干
Lakes,Too,Feel Global Warming

There's no doubt:In the last few decades,the average temperature on Earth has been higher than it has
been in hundreds of years.Around the world,people are starting to measure the effects of global warming一
and trying to figure out what to do about it.
Scientists recently used satellites to study the temperatures of lakes around the world,and they found
that lakes are heating up.Between 1985 and 2009,satellites recorded the nighttime temperatures of the sur-
faces of 167 lakes.During those 24 years,the lakes got warmer by an average of about 0.045 degree
Celsius per year.
In some places,lakes have been warming by as much as 0.10 degree Celsius per year. At that rate,a
lake may warm by a full degree Celsius in just 10 years.That difference may seem small一you might not
even notice it in your bath.But in a lake,slightly warmer temperatures could mean more algae（水藻）,and
algae can make the lake poisonous to fish.
The study shows that in some regions,lakes are warming faster than the air around them.This is impor-
tant because scientists often use measurements of air temperature to study how Earth is warming. By using
lake temperatures as well,scientists can get a better picture of global warming. The scientists say data on
lakes give scientists a new way to measure the impact of climate change around the world.
That's going to be useful,since no country is too big or too small to ignore climate change.Scientists
aren't the only ones concerned.Everyone who lives on Earth is going to be affected by the rapid warming of
the planet. Many world leaders believe we might be able to do something about it,especially by reducing the
amount of greenhouse（温室）gases we put into the air.
That's why the United Nations started the Framework Convention on Climate Change,or UNFCCC.
Every year the convention meets,and representatives from countries around the world gather to talk about
climate change and discuss global solutions to the challenges of a warming world.

Lakes seem to be warming faster in Asia.
A:Right
B:Wrong
C:Not mentioned

共用题干
Climate Change:The Long Reach
1.Earth is warming.Sea levels are rising.There's more carbon in the air,and Arctic ice is melting faster than at any time in recorded history.Scientists who study the environment to better gauge（评估） Earth's future climate now argue that these changes may not reverse for a very long time.
2.People burn fossil fuels like coal and oil for energy.That burning releases carbon dioxide,a colorless gas.In the air,this gas traps heat at Earth's surface.And the more carbon dioxide released,the more the planet warms.If current consumption of fossil fuels doesn't slow,the long-term climate impacts could last thousands of years-and be more severe than scientists had been expecting.Climatologist Richard Zeebe of the University of Hawaii at Manoa offers this conclusion in a new paper.
3.Most climate-change studies look at what's going to happen in the next century or so.During that time , changes in the planet's environment could nudge（推动）global warming even higher.For example, snow and ice reflect sunlight back into space.But as these melt,sunlight can now reach-and warm-the exposed ground.This extra heat raises the air temperature even more,causing even more snow to melt.This type of rapid exaggeration of impacts is called a"fast feedback".
4.Zeebe says it's important to look at fast feedbacks.However,he adds,they're limited.From a climate change perspective,"This century is the most important time for the next few generations,"he told Science News."But the world is not ending in 2100."For this new study,Zeebe now focuses on"slow feedbacks".While fast feedback events unfold over decades or centuries,slow feedbacks can take thousands of years.Melting of continental ice sheets and the migration of plant life-as they relocate to more comfortable areas-are two examples of slow feedbacks.
5.Zeebe gathered information from previously published studies investigating how such processes played out over thousands of years during past dramatic changes in climate.Then he came up with a forecast for the future that accounts for both slow and fast feedback processes.Climate forecasts that use only fast feedbacks predict a 4.5 degree Celsius(8.1 degree Fahrenheit)change by the year 3000.But slow feedbacks added another 1.5℃-for a 6℃ total increase,Zeebe reports.He also found that slow feedback events will cause global warming to persist for thousands of years after people run out of fossil fuels to burn.

Zeebe came up with his future climate prediction by analyzing______.
A:the extra heat
B:rapid exaggeration of impacts
C:the exposed ground
D:recorded history
E:a very long time
F:previously published studies

In June,California department of forestry and fire protection determined that 12 devastating fires that struck Northern California tate last year were the result of trees coming into contact with power lines or other problems tied to the electric utility PG&E.Thanks to a policy known as inverse conclemnation,the utility could be on the hook for those damages,even if ii is not found to be negligeni.In the past,PG&-E has paid the bills when it was blamed for fires and other damages.But the company now says it cannot keep footing the bill so long as climate change continues to increase the likelihood of fires.Millions of trees have died across California after years of intense drought.creating vast quantities of fuel that allow fires to burn faster and over greater clistances-all combined with higher temperatures.It has pushed to raise electricity rates to pay for tlie clamage.Meanwhile.state officials are pushing a change in the law.Governor Jerry Brown proposed a new plan ihat would allow a court to decide whether the utility acted"reasonably"before forcing the company to pay claims."Costly wildfires and natural disasters have the poiential to undermine the sysiem*"Brown told legislators."leaving our energy sector in a state of weakness at a time when it shoulcl be making even greater investments in safety."Within the U.S.,the debate over liability for climate change has taken several forms.On the fecleral level,proactive policymakers have pushed to rework the National Flood Insurance Program（NFIP）,which pays people to rebuild their homes after floods-even in areas where damage is likely to strike again.In effect,that program,which is more than$20 billion in clebt,put.s the burden of climate-change-related natural disasters in the hands of the U.S.government ancl the taxpayer.Infrastructure experts have also pushed the government to rethink its post disaster funding to require climate change preparedness measures.A group of pioneering American cities have sought to have the oil-and-gas industry pay for climate-change-relatecl clamages and disaster-prevention measures.A series of lawsuits have blamed the companies for years of polluting the planet while concealing evidence that emissions would contribute to devastaiing climate change.The authorities behind the lawsuits hope that courts will force the industry to pay up.Thus far,U.S.courts have expressed skepticism-not necessarily of the fault of oil and gas but of the ability of the judicial system to address the issue."The problem deserves a solution on a more vast scale than can be supplied by a district judge or jury in a public nuisance case,"wrote William Alsup of the U.S.District Court in Northern California.Elsewhere,a large number of litigants have also looked to the courts.Lacking other avenues for addressing the issue,people feeling the impacts of climate change are increasingly Lurning to courts to help find a global answer to a global problem.
According to Paragraphs l and 2,PG&E

A.is blamed for multiple intense fires.
B.is found guilty of negligence.
C.is coniributing to climate change.
D.is refusing to pay its current bills.

Text 1 Giant corporations often claim to be"green,"pointing to programs they've undertaken aimed at being environmentally conscious.But sometimes these efforts don't really amount to much.They can be no more than'igrcenwashing,"a public relations effort that doesn't represent any fundamental shift in thinking.But such a change may actually be going on among several of the world's largest fossil fuel companies,namcs such as ExxonMobil,Shell,and BP.One of the biggest reasons:pressure from the companies'sharcholdcrs.Investors arc asking corporations to make more transparent the effects climate change will have on their businesses,as well as explain what they are doing to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.While sharcholdcr motivcs are cerlainly aimed at helping in the worldwide fight against global warming,they also represent a practical need to better understand a company's prospects.If the burning of oil and gas is grcaily curtailed as a result of the December 2015 intemational Paris climate agreement,for example,how might that affect the bottom line of a corporation whose chief source of revenue is extracting and selling carbon-emitting oil and gas?Or,conversely,how is a company planning to take advantage of the business opportunities that emerge from a shift away from fossil fuels?Climate Action 100+,for example,is a shareholder action group that is asking corporations to make stronger commitments to meeting the 80 percent cut in carbon emissions proposed by the Paris agreement signed two years ago by nearly 200 nations.Some 225 investment groups who manage more than S26.3 trillion have signed on in support.Last week,intemational energy giant ExxonMobil said it will step up its reporting to shareholders and the public about the impacts climate change will have on its business,including any expected increased risks.The new policy follows a vote by ExxonMobil investors at the company's annual meeting in May that called for a yearly assessment of the effects of climate change on the company.The new position represents a sea change for ExxonMobil,which until the early 2000s had disputed the need to take action on climate change.Around the world national govemments are shaping new policies in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to a level that will not allow global temperatures to rise more than 2 degrees Celsius.In the U,S.,individual states and cities are pursuing lawsuits against companies that fail to deal responsibly with greenhouse gas emissions,which they contend harm the public.24.What's ExxonMobil's attitude toward taking action on climate change?

A.Biased.
B.Objective.
C.Indifferent.
D.Supportive.

Questions 184-188 refer to the following article.
President Barack Obama has issued his call to put global warming at the top of the international
agenda, pledging to push for coordinated action by the world's biggest countries to tackle problem of climate change.
In the speech, the US president on Tuesday laid out a three-pan plan to deal with climate change using the power of his office.
He outlined a strategy to cut the US's carbon pollution by reducing emissions from coal-fired power plants; to prepare the US for the impact of climate change, such
as the super storm that ravaged the New Jersey coastline last year, and to lead the world by example in combating changing climate.
"While no single step can reverse the effects of climate change, the president believes we have a moral obligation to our kids to leave them a planet that's not polluted and White House official said.
The coal industry said the proposals could prove devastating-----shares in US coal mining companies have been falling sharply-but Mr. Obama ' s speech was being watched closely around the world.
In Europe, where the Eurozone crisis has pushed the
climate change agenda firmly into the political background, environmental campaigners said they hoped Mr.Obama's speech would puncture arguments tackling global warming as bad for the economy.”If you have got the US and China moving, then the argument that the EU is going it alone clearly doesn't stand up to scrutiny anymore," said Tom Brookes of the European Climate Foundation.
The president said he would seek to expand new and existing international initiatives,including bilateral initiatives with China, India and other big emissions countries.

According to the passage, what was the possible solution for the problem?

A. Seeking international coordination of big emission countries
B. Making EU 's action ahead of environment campaigners
C. Enhanced awareness of environmental campaigners
D. Expanding the influence of some Asian countries

Questions 184-188 refer to the following article.
President Barack Obama has issued his call to put global warming at the top of the international
agenda, pledging to push for coordinated action by the world's biggest countries to tackle problem of climate change.
In the speech, the US president on Tuesday laid out a three-pan plan to deal with climate change using the power of his office.
He outlined a strategy to cut the US's carbon pollution by reducing emissions from coal-fired power plants; to prepare the US for the impact of climate change, such
as the super storm that ravaged the New Jersey coastline last year, and to lead the world by example in combating changing climate.
"While no single step can reverse the effects of climate change, the president believes we have a moral obligation to our kids to leave them a planet that's not polluted and White House official said.
The coal industry said the proposals could prove devastating-----shares in US coal mining companies have been falling sharply-but Mr. Obama ' s speech was being watched closely around the world.
In Europe, where the Eurozone crisis has pushed the
climate change agenda firmly into the political background, environmental campaigners said they hoped Mr.Obama's speech would puncture arguments tackling global warming as bad for the economy.”If you have got the US and China moving, then the argument that the EU is going it alone clearly doesn't stand up to scrutiny anymore," said Tom Brookes of the European Climate Foundation.
The president said he would seek to expand new and existing international initiatives,including bilateral initiatives with China, India and other big emissions countries.

According to the passage, it can be implied that the coal industry______

A. was indifferent about the proposal
B. agreed with the proposal
C. would express opinions after close watching
D. disagreed with the proposal

Questions 184-188 refer to the following article.
President Barack Obama has issued his call to put global warming at the top of the international
agenda, pledging to push for coordinated action by the world's biggest countries to tackle problem of climate change.
In the speech, the US president on Tuesday laid out a three-pan plan to deal with climate change using the power of his office.
He outlined a strategy to cut the US's carbon pollution by reducing emissions from coal-fired power plants; to prepare the US for the impact of climate change, such
as the super storm that ravaged the New Jersey coastline last year, and to lead the world by example in combating changing climate.
"While no single step can reverse the effects of climate change, the president believes we have a moral obligation to our kids to leave them a planet that's not polluted and White House official said.
The coal industry said the proposals could prove devastating-----shares in US coal mining companies have been falling sharply-but Mr. Obama ' s speech was being watched closely around the world.
In Europe, where the Eurozone crisis has pushed the
climate change agenda firmly into the political background, environmental campaigners said they hoped Mr.Obama's speech would puncture arguments tackling global warming as bad for the economy.”If you have got the US and China moving, then the argument that the EU is going it alone clearly doesn't stand up to scrutiny anymore," said Tom Brookes of the European Climate Foundation.
The president said he would seek to expand new and existing international initiatives,including bilateral initiatives with China, India and other big emissions countries.

What was the main point of Obama ' s speech?

A. to call for actions to tackle the problems of climate change
B. to co-ordinate for the implementation of international agenda
C. to lay out a plan for environmental problems
D. to find reasons for recent global warming

The world's oceans have warmed 50 percent faster over the last 40 years than previously thought due to climate change,Australian and US climate researchers reported Wednesday．Higher ocean temperatures expand the volume of water,contributing to a rise in sea levels that is covering small island nations and threatening to destroy the low-lying,densely-populated low regions around the globe.
The study,published in the British journal Nature,adds to a growing scientific chorus of warnings about the pace and consequences rising oceans．It also serves as a corrective to a massive report issued last year by the Nobel-winning UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC),according to the authors.
Rising sea levels are driven by two things:the thermal expansion of sea water,and additional water from melting sources of ice．Both processes are caused by global warming．The ice sheet that sits atop Greenland,for example,contains enough water to raise world ocean levels by seven meters,which would bury sea-level cities from Dhaka to Shanghai.
Trying to figure out how much each of these factors contributes to rising sea levels is critically important to understanding climate change,and forecasting future temperature rises,scientists say．But up to now,there has been a puzzling gap between the projections of computer-based climate models,and the observations of scientists gathering data from the oceans.
The new study,led by Catia Domingues of the Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research,is the first to reunite the models with observed data．Using new techniques to assess ocean temperatures to a depth of 700 meters from 1961 to 2003,it shows that thermal warming contributed to a 0.53 millimeter-per-year rise in sea levels rather than the 0.32 mm rise reported by the IPCC.

Ultimately,the new study should help scientists to__.

A.lower water levels
B.change their opinions
C.better predict climate change
D.bury sea-level cities like Dhaka and Shanghai

The world's oceans have warmed 50 percent faster over the last 40 years than previously thought due to climate change,Australian and US climate researchers reported Wednesday．Higher ocean temperatures expand the volume of water,contributing to a rise in sea levels that is covering small island nations and threatening to destroy the low-lying,densely-populated low regions around the globe.
The study,published in the British journal Nature,adds to a growing scientific chorus of warnings about the pace and consequences rising oceans．It also serves as a corrective to a massive report issued last year by the Nobel-winning UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC),according to the authors.
Rising sea levels are driven by two things:the thermal expansion of sea water,and additional water from melting sources of ice．Both processes are caused by global warming．The ice sheet that sits atop Greenland,for example,contains enough water to raise world ocean levels by seven meters,which would bury sea-level cities from Dhaka to Shanghai.
Trying to figure out how much each of these factors contributes to rising sea levels is critically important to understanding climate change,and forecasting future temperature rises,scientists say．But up to now,there has been a puzzling gap between the projections of computer-based climate models,and the observations of scientists gathering data from the oceans.
The new study,led by Catia Domingues of the Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research,is the first to reunite the models with observed data．Using new techniques to assess ocean temperatures to a depth of 700 meters from 1961 to 2003,it shows that thermal warming contributed to a 0.53 millimeter-per-year rise in sea levels rather than the 0.32 mm rise reported by the IPCC.

The rise in water levels is especially dangerous for small island nations and__.

A.low-lying urban areas
B.all coastal cities
C.people who live on the beach
D.Shanghai

共用题干
Global Warming

1.Smoke is clouding our view of global warming,protecting the planet from perhaps threequarters of the greenhouse（温室）effect. That might sound like good news,but experts say that as the cover diminishes in coming decades,we are facing a dramatic increase of warming that could be two or even three times as great as official best guesses.
2.This was the dramatic conclusion reached last week at a workshop in Dahlem,Berlin,where top atmospheric scientists got together,including Nobel prize winner Paul Crutzen and Swedish scientist Bert Bolin,former chairman of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC).
3. IPCC scientists have suspected for a decade that aerosols（浮质）of smoke and other partidles from burning rainforest,crop waste and fossil fuels are blocking sunlight and counteracting the warming effect of carbon dioxide（二氧化物）emissions. Until now,they reckoned that aerosols reduced greenhouse warming by perhaps a quarter,cutting increases by 0.2℃．So the 0.6℃of warming over the past century would have been 0.8℃without aerosols.
4.But the Berlin workshop concluded that the real figure is even higher—aerosols may have reduced global warming by as much as three-quarters,cutting increases by 1.8℃．If so,the good news is that aerosols have prevented the world getting almost two degrees warmer than it is now. But the bad news is that the climate system is much more sensitive to greenhouse gases than previously guessed.
5.As those gases are expected to continue accumulating in the atmosphere while aerosols stabilize or fall,that means"dramatic consequences for estimates of future climate change",the scientists agreed in a draft report from the workshop.

When the cover diminishes in the coming decades,temperature_______.
A: will influence future climate change
B:was somewhat surprising
C:will rise rapidly
D:was known to US all
E:was much higher than had been expected
F:will drop dramatically

共用题干
Lakes,Too,Feel Global Warming

There's no doubt:In the last few decades,the average temperature on Earth has been higher than it has
been in hundreds of years.Around the world,people are starting to measure the effects of global warming一
and trying to figure out what to do about it.
Scientists recently used satellites to study the temperatures of lakes around the world,and they found
that lakes are heating up.Between 1985 and 2009,satellites recorded the nighttime temperatures of the sur-
faces of 167 lakes.During those 24 years,the lakes got warmer by an average of about 0.045 degree
Celsius per year.
In some places,lakes have been warming by as much as 0.10 degree Celsius per year. At that rate,a
lake may warm by a full degree Celsius in just 10 years.That difference may seem small一you might not
even notice it in your bath.But in a lake,slightly warmer temperatures could mean more algae（水藻）,and
algae can make the lake poisonous to fish.
The study shows that in some regions,lakes are warming faster than the air around them.This is impor-
tant because scientists often use measurements of air temperature to study how Earth is warming. By using
lake temperatures as well,scientists can get a better picture of global warming. The scientists say data on
lakes give scientists a new way to measure the impact of climate change around the world.
That's going to be useful,since no country is too big or too small to ignore climate change.Scientists
aren't the only ones concerned.Everyone who lives on Earth is going to be affected by the rapid warming of
the planet. Many world leaders believe we might be able to do something about it,especially by reducing the
amount of greenhouse（温室）gases we put into the air.
That's why the United Nations started the Framework Convention on Climate Change,or UNFCCC.
Every year the convention meets,and representatives from countries around the world gather to talk about
climate change and discuss global solutions to the challenges of a warming world.

Scientists have been keeping records of lake temperatures for over 30 years.
A:Right
B:Wrong
C:Not mentioned

共用题干
Climate Change:The Long Reach
1.Earth is warming.Sea levels are rising.There's more carbon in the air,and Arctic ice is melting faster than at any time in recorded history.Scientists who study the environment to better gauge（评估） Earth's future climate now argue that these changes may not reverse for a very long time.
2.People burn fossil fuels like coal and oil for energy.That burning releases carbon dioxide,a colorless gas.In the air,this gas traps heat at Earth's surface.And the more carbon dioxide released,the more the planet warms.If current consumption of fossil fuels doesn't slow,the long-term climate impacts could last thousands of years-and be more severe than scientists had been expecting.Climatologist Richard Zeebe of the University of Hawaii at Manoa offers this conclusion in a new paper.
3.Most climate-change studies look at what's going to happen in the next century or so.During that time , changes in the planet's environment could nudge（推动）global warming even higher.For example, snow and ice reflect sunlight back into space.But as these melt,sunlight can now reach-and warm-the exposed ground.This extra heat raises the air temperature even more,causing even more snow to melt.This type of rapid exaggeration of impacts is called a"fast feedback".
4.Zeebe says it's important to look at fast feedbacks.However,he adds,they're limited.From a climate change perspective,"This century is the most important time for the next few generations,"he told Science News."But the world is not ending in 2100."For this new study,Zeebe now focuses on"slow feedbacks".While fast feedback events unfold over decades or centuries,slow feedbacks can take thousands of years.Melting of continental ice sheets and the migration of plant life-as they relocate to more comfortable areas-are two examples of slow feedbacks.
5.Zeebe gathered information from previously published studies investigating how such processes played out over thousands of years during past dramatic changes in climate.Then he came up with a forecast for the future that accounts for both slow and fast feedback processes.Climate forecasts that use only fast feedbacks predict a 4.5 degree Celsius(8.1 degree Fahrenheit)change by the year 3000.But slow feedbacks added another 1.5℃-for a 6℃ total increase,Zeebe reports.He also found that slow feedback events will cause global warming to persist for thousands of years after people run out of fossil fuels to burn.

Arctic ice has never been melting so fast in______.
A:the extra heat
B:rapid exaggeration of impacts
C:the exposed ground
D:recorded history
E:a very long time
F:previously published studies

共用题干
Lakes,Too,Feel Global Warming

There's no doubt:In the last few decades,the average temperature on Earth has been higher than it has
been in hundreds of years.Around the world,people are starting to measure the effects of global warming一
and trying to figure out what to do about it.
Scientists recently used satellites to study the temperatures of lakes around the world,and they found
that lakes are heating up.Between 1985 and 2009,satellites recorded the nighttime temperatures of the sur-
faces of 167 lakes.During those 24 years,the lakes got warmer by an average of about 0.045 degree
Celsius per year.
In some places,lakes have been warming by as much as 0.10 degree Celsius per year. At that rate,a
lake may warm by a full degree Celsius in just 10 years.That difference may seem small一you might not
even notice it in your bath.But in a lake,slightly warmer temperatures could mean more algae（水藻）,and
algae can make the lake poisonous to fish.
The study shows that in some regions,lakes are warming faster than the air around them.This is impor-
tant because scientists often use measurements of air temperature to study how Earth is warming. By using
lake temperatures as well,scientists can get a better picture of global warming. The scientists say data on
lakes give scientists a new way to measure the impact of climate change around the world.
That's going to be useful,since no country is too big or too small to ignore climate change.Scientists
aren't the only ones concerned.Everyone who lives on Earth is going to be affected by the rapid warming of
the planet. Many world leaders believe we might be able to do something about it,especially by reducing the
amount of greenhouse（温室）gases we put into the air.
That's why the United Nations started the Framework Convention on Climate Change,or UNFCCC.
Every year the convention meets,and representatives from countries around the world gather to talk about
climate change and discuss global solutions to the challenges of a warming world.

A slight temperature increase in a lake could be harmful to fish.
A:Right
B:Wrong
C:Not mentioned

Text 1 Giant corporations often claim to be"green,"pointing to programs they've undertaken aimed at being environmentally conscious.But sometimes these efforts don't really amount to much.They can be no more than'igrcenwashing,"a public relations effort that doesn't represent any fundamental shift in thinking.But such a change may actually be going on among several of the world's largest fossil fuel companies,namcs such as ExxonMobil,Shell,and BP.One of the biggest reasons:pressure from the companies'sharcholdcrs.Investors arc asking corporations to make more transparent the effects climate change will have on their businesses,as well as explain what they are doing to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.While sharcholdcr motivcs are cerlainly aimed at helping in the worldwide fight against global warming,they also represent a practical need to better understand a company's prospects.If the burning of oil and gas is grcaily curtailed as a result of the December 2015 intemational Paris climate agreement,for example,how might that affect the bottom line of a corporation whose chief source of revenue is extracting and selling carbon-emitting oil and gas?Or,conversely,how is a company planning to take advantage of the business opportunities that emerge from a shift away from fossil fuels?Climate Action 100+,for example,is a shareholder action group that is asking corporations to make stronger commitments to meeting the 80 percent cut in carbon emissions proposed by the Paris agreement signed two years ago by nearly 200 nations.Some 225 investment groups who manage more than S26.3 trillion have signed on in support.Last week,intemational energy giant ExxonMobil said it will step up its reporting to shareholders and the public about the impacts climate change will have on its business,including any expected increased risks.The new policy follows a vote by ExxonMobil investors at the company's annual meeting in May that called for a yearly assessment of the effects of climate change on the company.The new position represents a sea change for ExxonMobil,which until the early 2000s had disputed the need to take action on climate change.Around the world national govemments are shaping new policies in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to a level that will not allow global temperatures to rise more than 2 degrees Celsius.In the U,S.,individual states and cities are pursuing lawsuits against companies that fail to deal responsibly with greenhouse gas emissions,which they contend harm the public.22.Which of the following is right about shareholders?

A.They explained their steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
B.They are reluctant to help fight against global warming.
C.They have made some corporations'thought changed.
D.They pointed out their understanding of companies'prospects.

Text 1 Giant corporations often claim to be"green,"pointing to programs they've undertaken aimed at being environmentally conscious.But sometimes these efforts don't really amount to much.They can be no more than'igrcenwashing,"a public relations effort that doesn't represent any fundamental shift in thinking.But such a change may actually be going on among several of the world's largest fossil fuel companies,namcs such as ExxonMobil,Shell,and BP.One of the biggest reasons:pressure from the companies'sharcholdcrs.Investors arc asking corporations to make more transparent the effects climate change will have on their businesses,as well as explain what they are doing to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.While sharcholdcr motivcs are cerlainly aimed at helping in the worldwide fight against global warming,they also represent a practical need to better understand a company's prospects.If the burning of oil and gas is grcaily curtailed as a result of the December 2015 intemational Paris climate agreement,for example,how might that affect the bottom line of a corporation whose chief source of revenue is extracting and selling carbon-emitting oil and gas?Or,conversely,how is a company planning to take advantage of the business opportunities that emerge from a shift away from fossil fuels?Climate Action 100+,for example,is a shareholder action group that is asking corporations to make stronger commitments to meeting the 80 percent cut in carbon emissions proposed by the Paris agreement signed two years ago by nearly 200 nations.Some 225 investment groups who manage more than S26.3 trillion have signed on in support.Last week,intemational energy giant ExxonMobil said it will step up its reporting to shareholders and the public about the impacts climate change will have on its business,including any expected increased risks.The new policy follows a vote by ExxonMobil investors at the company's annual meeting in May that called for a yearly assessment of the effects of climate change on the company.The new position represents a sea change for ExxonMobil,which until the early 2000s had disputed the need to take action on climate change.Around the world national govemments are shaping new policies in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to a level that will not allow global temperatures to rise more than 2 degrees Celsius.In the U,S.,individual states and cities are pursuing lawsuits against companies that fail to deal responsibly with greenhouse gas emissions,which they contend harm the public.25.The U.S.is quoted to indicate

A.its great achievement in dealing with climate change.
B.greenhouse gas emissions have been under control.
C.countries are striving to cope with climate change.
D.it has rules and laws against greenhouse gas emissions

Questions 184-188 refer to the following article.
President Barack Obama has issued his call to put global warming at the top of the international
agenda, pledging to push for coordinated action by the world's biggest countries to tackle problem of climate change.
In the speech, the US president on Tuesday laid out a three-pan plan to deal with climate change using the power of his office.
He outlined a strategy to cut the US's carbon pollution by reducing emissions from coal-fired power plants; to prepare the US for the impact of climate change, such
as the super storm that ravaged the New Jersey coastline last year, and to lead the world by example in combating changing climate.
"While no single step can reverse the effects of climate change, the president believes we have a moral obligation to our kids to leave them a planet that's not polluted and White House official said.
The coal industry said the proposals could prove devastating-----shares in US coal mining companies have been falling sharply-but Mr. Obama ' s speech was being watched closely around the world.
In Europe, where the Eurozone crisis has pushed the
climate change agenda firmly into the political background, environmental campaigners said they hoped Mr.Obama's speech would puncture arguments tackling global warming as bad for the economy.”If you have got the US and China moving, then the argument that the EU is going it alone clearly doesn't stand up to scrutiny anymore," said Tom Brookes of the European Climate Foundation.
The president said he would seek to expand new and existing international initiatives,including bilateral initiatives with China, India and other big emissions countries.

The Eurozone crisis has caused that_______

A. People believed that dealing with environmental problems is bad for the economy
B. There has been more environmental campaigners discussing about the issue
C. The climate change agenda was influenced by politics
D. The EU was going along with US and China

Questions 184-188 refer to the following article.
President Barack Obama has issued his call to put global warming at the top of the international
agenda, pledging to push for coordinated action by the world's biggest countries to tackle problem of climate change.
In the speech, the US president on Tuesday laid out a three-pan plan to deal with climate change using the power of his office.
He outlined a strategy to cut the US's carbon pollution by reducing emissions from coal-fired power plants; to prepare the US for the impact of climate change, such
as the super storm that ravaged the New Jersey coastline last year, and to lead the world by example in combating changing climate.
"While no single step can reverse the effects of climate change, the president believes we have a moral obligation to our kids to leave them a planet that's not polluted and White House official said.
The coal industry said the proposals could prove devastating-----shares in US coal mining companies have been falling sharply-but Mr. Obama ' s speech was being watched closely around the world.
In Europe, where the Eurozone crisis has pushed the
climate change agenda firmly into the political background, environmental campaigners said they hoped Mr.Obama's speech would puncture arguments tackling global warming as bad for the economy.”If you have got the US and China moving, then the argument that the EU is going it alone clearly doesn't stand up to scrutiny anymore," said Tom Brookes of the European Climate Foundation.
The president said he would seek to expand new and existing international initiatives,including bilateral initiatives with China, India and other big emissions countries.

Which of the following is NOT included in the US president 's strategy?

A. to set a good example for the world
B. to fight against the super storm in the New Jersey
C. to cut emissions from coal-fired power plants
D. to prepare the US for the influence of the changing climate

共用题干
Climate Change:The Long Reach
1.Earth is warming.Sea levels are rising.There's more carbon in the air,and Arctic ice is melting faster than at any time in recorded history.Scientists who study the environment to better gauge（评估） Earth's future climate now argue that these changes may not reverse for a very long time.
2.People burn fossil fuels like coal and oil for energy.That burning releases carbon dioxide,a colorless gas.In the air,this gas traps heat at Earth's surface.And the more carbon dioxide released,the more the planet warms.If current consumption of fossil fuels doesn't slow,the long-term climate impacts could last thousands of years-and be more severe than scientists had been expecting.Climatologist Richard
Zeebe of the University of Hawaii at Manoa offers this conclusion in a new paper.
3.Most climate-change studies look at what's going to happen in the next century or so.During that time, changes in the planet' s environment could nudge（推动）global warming even higher.For example, snow and ice reflect sunlight back into space.But as these melt,sunlight can now reach-and warm-the exposed ground.This extra heat raises the air temperature even more,causing even more snow to melt.This type of rapid exaggeration of impacts is called a"fast feedback".
4.Zeebe says it's important to look at fast feedbacks.However,he adds,they're limited.From a climate change perspective,"This century is the most important time for the next few generations,"he told Science News."But the world is not ending in 2100."For this new study,Zeebe now focuses on"slow feedbacks".While fast feedback events unfold over decades or centuries,slow feedbacks can take thousands of years.Melting of continental ice sheets and the migration of plant life-as they relocate to more comfortable areas-are two examples of slow feedbacks.
5.Zeebe gathered information from previously published studies investigating how such processes played out over thousands of years during past dramatic changes in climate.Then he came up with a forecast for the future that accounts for both slow and fast feedback processes.Climate forecasts that use only fast feedbacks predict a 4.5 degree Celsius(8.1 degree Fahrenheit)change by the year 3000.But slow feedbacks added another 1.5℃-for a 6℃ total increase,Zeebe reports.He also found that slow feedback events will cause global warming to persist for thousands of years after people run out of fossil fuels to burn.

Paragraph 4______
A:Rising of Sea Levels
B:Impact of Burning Fossil Fuels
C:Fast Feedbacks
D:Slow Feedbacks
E:Unpredictability of Feedback Processes
F:A Prediction of Future Climate Change

The world's oceans have warmed 50 percent faster over the last 40 years than previously thought due to climate change,Australian and US climate researchers reported Wednesday．Higher ocean temperatures expand the volume of water,contributing to a rise in sea levels that is covering small island nations and threatening to destroy the low-lying,densely-populated low regions around the globe.
The study,published in the British journal Nature,adds to a growing scientific chorus of warnings about the pace and consequences rising oceans．It also serves as a corrective to a massive report issued last year by the Nobel-winning UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC),according to the authors.
Rising sea levels are driven by two things:the thermal expansion of sea water,and additional water from melting sources of ice．Both processes are caused by global warming．The ice sheet that sits atop Greenland,for example,contains enough water to raise world ocean levels by seven meters,which would bury sea-level cities from Dhaka to Shanghai.
Trying to figure out how much each of these factors contributes to rising sea levels is critically important to understanding climate change,and forecasting future temperature rises,scientists say．But up to now,there has been a puzzling gap between the projections of computer-based climate models,and the observations of scientists gathering data from the oceans.
The new study,led by Catia Domingues of the Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research,is the first to reunite the models with observed data．Using new techniques to assess ocean temperatures to a depth of 700 meters from 1961 to 2003,it shows that thermal warming contributed to a 0.53 millimeter-per-year rise in sea levels rather than the 0.32 mm rise reported by the IPCC.

What happens when the ocean's temperature rises?

A.It causes sea levels to ris
B.It causes sea levels to decreas
C.It causes sea levels to remain unchange
D.It causes sea flood all over the glob

共用题干
Lakes,Too,Feel Global Warming

There's no doubt;In the last few decades,the average temperature on Earth has been higher than it has
been in hundreds of years,Around the world,people are starting to measure the effects of global warming一
and trying to figure out what to do about it.
Scientists recently used satellites to study the temperatures of lakes around the world,and they found
that lakes are heating up.Between 1985 and 2009,satellites recorded the nighttime temperatures of the sur-
faces of 167 lakes.During those 24 years,the lakes got warmer一by an average of about 0.045 degree
Celsius per year.
In some places,lakes have been warming by as much as 0.10 degree Celsius per year. At that rate,a
lake may warm by a full degree Celsius in just 10 years?That difference may seem imull一you might not
even notice it in your bath.But in a lake,slightly warmer temperatures could mean more algae（水藻）,and
algae can make the lake poisonous（有毒的）to fish.
The study shows that in some regions,lakes are warming faster than the air around them.This is impor-
tant because scientists often use measurements of air temperature to study how Earth is warming.By using
lake temperatures as well,scientists can get a better picture of global warming.The scientists say data on
lakes give scientists a new way to measure the impact of climate change around the world.
That’s going to be useful,since no country is too big or too small to ignore climate change.Scientists
aren't the only ones concerned、 Everyone who lives on Earth is going to be affected by the rapid warming of
the planet.Many world leaders believe we might be able to do something about it,especially by reducing the
amount of greenhouse（温室）gases we put into the air.
That’s why the United Nations started the F'ramework Convention on Climate Change,or UNFCCC.
Every year the convention meets,and representatives from countries around the world gather to talk about
climate change and discuss global solutions to the challenges of a warming world.

Lakes seem to be warming faster in Asia.
A:Right
B:Wrong
C:Not mentioned